A number of bills passed

March 10, 2012

As we come to the final days of the regular session, things have gotten to be very hectic. We have switched bills with the Senate and are now looking at the bills that the senators passed and they are looking at the House bills that have passed.

In the House of Delegates, we have passed a number of Senate bills this week, which completes the legislative action on those bills. When we receive a Senate bill that has passed in the Senate, it goes into a committee and then it is either recommended to pass or amended, and sometimes sent to another committee. Once recommended to pass, it is introduced on the floor, read three times and then voted on.

Many of the bills that have completed this process this week address many issues that are important to me. One bill that is particularly important to me is Senate Bill 191. The bill will provide protection for non-family or non-household members who do not otherwise qualify for protection under the domestic abuse statute. It would fill a gap in the existing law for people who are victims of a violent crime or are threatened or harassed by people who are neither a family or household member of the person.

Just as we are passing Senate bills to complete legislative action, the senators are doing the same thing with House bills that we in the House of Delegates have passed throughout the session.

In the Senate, they have passed the mine safety bill, and we in the House concurred with their amendments. We in the House of Delegates passed the bill on Feb. 28. It pleased me that this bill passed in the Senate in such a timely manner, as the safety of our miners is a huge issue in this state.

This week, we passed the substance abuse bill out of Health and Human Resources Committee and it moved on to the Judiciary Committee. I am overjoyed that the bill is on the next step to getting read on the floor. In Health and Human Resources, we worked very hard on this bill and I am optimistic about its passage.

As always, I welcome all calls to my Capitol office at 304-340-3145 and am glad to serve the people of the 37th District by responding to your questions about what is important to you. I am in the House of Delegates to serve you, so what better way to do that than to hear from you about the issues you think matter the most.